“If solely I’d considered it first,” mentioned each bartender, not less than as soon as.

It was how I felt again in 2019, on the Ave in Grand Cayman, once I first tasted the Escape (If You Like Piña Coladas) for the primary time. The mashup of the long-lasting Ramos Gin Fizz and the Champagne Piña Colada from London’s Coupette was so easy, but so intelligent, and it fully stole my coronary heart (as did my now-wife, whom I additionally occurred to satisfy and share this cocktail with on mentioned journey).

The Escape is made with a home mix of white rums infused with pineapple skins and coconut, all vigorously shaken with Coco Lopez, pineapple and lime juices, then lengthened with Champagne. It’s primarily a Piña Colada Royale with a cloud-like head of tropical foam, and it was garnished with a dusting of pulverized toasted coconut flakes to imitate seaside sand. It was sensational. 

However anybody who has ever tried to get pleasure from colada after colada on trip is aware of that consuming all that coconut cream could be a slog. 

The answer? Mini Escapes. I made a decision to scale down the drink, and, to make it simpler for a house bartender, get rid of the rum infusion. I named my iteration the Seafire Colada, which I featured in my e-book, Tiny Cocktails. 

The diminutive homage to the Escape packs the identical abundance of taste because the full-fat model, but it surely’s lighter on its toes; typically, daring and wealthy flavors are finest loved in tiny doses. Whereas, sure, the drink is sentimental for me—as an engagement reward, Ave’s beverage supervisor Jim Wrigley and ex–head bartender Patricio Rio mailed the cocktail (deconstructed) from Cayman to London for us to get pleasure from—I’m sure it might be (virtually) as particular for you, too.